Cleome viscosa
| Cleome viscosa | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 5' |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
 | |
Cleome viscosa (common name: tickweed)
Propagation: Seed - surface sow or only lightly cover the seed in spring in a greenhouse[1]. The seed usually germinates in 5 - 14 days at 25°c[1]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in late spring. Day time temperatures below 20°c depress germination but a night time fall to 20° is necessary[1].
Cultivation: Prefers a light fertile soil in a warm dry sunny position with plenty of room to spread[2].
A frost tender plant, it can be grown as a summer annual in Britain[2].
Range: Pantropical.
Habitat: Sandy and freely draining soils in open woodland scrub and on scree slopes in dry areas[2].
Edibility: Leaves and young shoots - cooked as a vegetable[3]. A sharp mustard-like flavour[4].
The pungent seed can be pickled or used as a mustard substitute in curries[4][3].
The seedpods are made into pickles[4].
The juice of the plant is used as a condiment[4].
An oil obtained from the seeds is used for cooking[3].
Medicinal: The leaves are diaphoretic, rubefacient and vesicant[5]. They are used as an external application to wounds and ulcers[5].
The juice of the leaves has been used to relieve earache[5].
The seeds are anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient, stimulant and vesicant[5][3]. The seed contains 0.1% viscosic acid and 0.04% viscosin[5].
A paste of the root is applied externally in the treatment of earaches[3].
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bird, Alfred. Growing from Seed Volume 4. Thompson and Morgan, 1990.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Manandhar, Narayan. Plants and People of Nepal. Timber Press, 2002.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.